Supporting arrangement for electric motors



Feb. 22, 1955 1-1. c. E. .JACOBY 2,702,681

SUPPORTING ARRANGEMENT FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS Filed April 28, 1951 INVEH OR lever R 6W4?!) r F1 r0251 EY United States Patent SUPPORTING ARRANGEIVIENT FOR ELECTRIC MOTORS Henry Charles Edward Jacoby, Birmingham, England, assignor to The General Electric Company Limited, London, England Application April 28, 1951, Serial No. 223,529

' 4 Claims. (Cl. 24822) This invention relates to supporting arrangements for electric motors and more particularly, but not exclusively, to supporting arrangements for motors for driving spinning bowls or similar devices. Motors of this type are well known and are arranged to rotate a spinning bowl at high speed.

An object of the present invention is the provision of a supporting arrangement in which the supported motor is resiliently mounted.

According to the present invention, a supporting arrangement for an electric motor such as an electric motor for driving spinning bowls or similar devices comprises a base having three ring or similarly shaped parts spaced 120 to each other around a central axis and equidistant therefrom with the axes of the said parts parallel to the said central axis and, associated with each ring or similarly shaped part, a mounting including two central metal annuli and two outer metal annuli all substantially parallel to each other, corresponding central and outer annuli being secured together by a bush of rubber or like resilient material bonded to both annuli, means for securing or clamping the central annuli to the ring or similarly shaped part so that the mounting lies at least partially within the said ring and on its axis, and a fixing bolt or stem passing through the bushes and the annuli and clamping them together, the said bolt or stem providing one of three supports for the motor.

Preferably, limiting means are provided to limit the distance between the two outer metal annuli of each mounting so that the degree of compression of the bushes is limited, with the motor in its normal position, to a predetermined value. Naturally, with movement of the motor, some extra compression of one bush will take place with a corresponding reduction in the compression of the other bush.

The limiting means may comprise two spaced-apart flanges provided on said fixing bolt or stem.

Each mounting may include a shield to protect the mounting bushes from oil, dirt, etc.

This shield may be a downwardly flanged annulus clamped between the upper outer annulus and a fixing lug projecting from the motor casing and co-operating with the grid bolt or stem.

One construction of a supporting arrangement for an electric motor in accordance with the present invention will now be described by way of example with reference to the accompanying drawing which shows a central sectional elevation through the lower part of the motor and one of the composite mountings of the supporting arrangement.

Referring to the drawing the motor 1, of which only part is shown, is arranged to drive a spinning bowl (not shown) and is provided with a supporting arrangement comprising a cast metal base 2 which is arranged to be bolted to a horizontal support. The motor may be of any known type and may be generally as described in British patent specification No. 369,642, specification No. 614,348, or specification No. 642,494. The base consists of a fiat circular plate 3 drilled for fixing to the support and projecting upwardly from the periphery of the plate are three brackets 4 spaced 120 apart around the central vertical axis of the plate. Each bracket has a ring or similarly shaped part 5 projecting away from the central axis and the ring or similarly shaped part 5 is formed as a short cylindrical part cast in one piece with the remainder of the base 2. The axes of the ring or similarly shaped parts 5 are parallel to the central axis of the plate and it is on these parts that the motor 1 is actually supported. Actually, the bores of the parts 5 taper slightly in the upward direction.

Each ring or similarly shaped part 5 is provided with a composite mounting 6 and each mounting 6 comprises two central flat metal discs or annuli 7 whose adjacent surfaces are in contact and whose peripheries rest on and are clamped by a number of fixing bolts 8 to the top of the ring or similarly shaped part 5. Each central disc 7 is bonded to one end of a bush 9 of rubber material known under the registered trade-mark Neoprene, or like resilient material and to the other end of each bush is bonded a further circular metal disc or annulus 10 whose outside diameter is smaller than the smallest inside diameter of the ring-like part 5. The central and outer annuli 7 and 10 are assembled on a fixing bolt 11 which passes through the bushes 9 and annuli 7 and 10 and lies on the axis of the ring or similarly shaped part 5, the bolt 11 being provided with two shoulders 12 against which the outer annuli 10 are clamped and the central annuli 7 having suflicient inside diameters to pass over the shoulders 12. Thus, the bushes 9 with their annuli 7 and 10 can be assembled on the bolt 11.

At the lower end of the bolt, a clamping nut 13 with :wo washers clamps the lower outer annulus 10 up against the adjacent shoulder 12 on the bolt 11 whilst, at the upper end, the bolt 11 is extended, passes through a hole in a fixing lug 14 projecting from the motor casing 15 and is provided with a clamping nut 16 and washers above the lug 14. A downwardly flanged annulus 17 is clamped between the upper outer annulus 10 on the said lug 14 to shield the mounting 6 from oil, dirt, etc. and the flange 18 of this annulus 17 extends outwardly beyond the surface of the upper bush 9.

The rubber or other bushes 9 of a mounting 6 are under compression when the outer annuli 10 are clamped against the shoulders 12 on the fixing bolts 11 and it will be appreciated that even if the bonding between a bush 9 and an annulus 7 or 10 tends to part, the clamping compression prevents the motor 1 slipping laterally or the mounting 6 separating.

As each rubber bush 9 is bonded to an outer annulus 10 and an inner annulus 7 and these annuli are secured to the lug or ring-like part 5 of the base 2 and the fixing lug 14 of the motor casing 15, respectively, the bushes may be subjected to both compressive and tensile stresses. This arrangement produces the required resilience of the mounting 6, and also prevents wear of the rubber bushes 9 at their surfaces of contact with the annuli 7 and 10.

The lugs 14 on the motor casing 15 are provided, of course, apart around the casing 15 and are provided towards the lower end of the motor casing 15 for the best results. Thus, in the arrangements described, the lugs 14 are mounted at the top of the oil bath 20 of the motor 1 with the central annuli 7 of the mountings 6 about level with the lower bearing 19 of the motor 1.

I claim as my invention:

1. A mounting to sustain a load relative to a base, comprising a base having an opening therethrough, a fixing bolt adapted to be rigidly secured to the load and extending axially through said opening, said fixing bolt having spaced abutments such as shoulders, a first cylindrical bush of resilient material disposed about one part of said fixing bolt adjacent one abutment, a first metal annulus bonded to that end of said first bush adjacent said abutment, a first load plate bonded to the other end of said first bush and rigidly secured to said base, a second separate cylindrical bush of resilient material disposed about another part of said fixing bolt adjacent the other abutment, a second metal annulus bonded to that end of said second bush adjacent said other abutment, a second load plate bonded to the other end of said second bush and rigidly secured to said base, said first and second load plates being disposed parallel to one another and secured together, and means to clamp the said first and second metal annuli against said spaced abutments of said fixing bolt so that said first and second bushes are normally under compression.

2. A mounting as claimed in claim 1, wherein said base is formed with a ring shaped part, said fixing bolt extending through the opening therethrough, and said first and second load plates being secured to said ring shaped part.

3. A mounting as claimed in claim 1, wherein the load References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,483,326 Bock Feb. 12, 1924 4 Eynon Dec. 8, 1925 Sando et al. Nov. 21, 1933 Farmer Mar. 8, 1938 Kisling Sept. 20, 1938 Dunham Dec. 5, 1939 Wells et a1 Apr. 30, 1946 Lee June 5, 1951 Lee Dec. 23, 1952 FOREIGN PATENTS Netherlands of 1941 

